Flood risk fears

A NEW report has shown a sharp rise in the number of properties at risk of flooding across Scotland — and areas within Annandale are among those under threat.

The assessment, published yesterday by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), reveals 400,000, or one in eight, homes, businesses and vital services in the country are in areas of medium risk of flooding.

The report comes just a matter of months before work is set to begin on the regeneration of Annan Harbour – an area prone to tidal flooding.

And in the same week as flash flooding in Langholm, as a result of heavy rainfall and water running off the hills.

SEPA’s 2021 flood risk management plan for the Solway District describes hundreds of properties in Annan and Langholm as being at risk.

However, Annan’s threat has been slightly mitigated since then following a £5m project undertaken by Scottish Water in 2022 to prevent sewer flooding in the town.

Although in areas closer to the river, a risk of overflowing water remains. This includes Port Street, as well as parts of Waterfoot Road and Hallmeadow.

Annan Harbour development manager Alan Thomson is well aware of the risks.

And with work set to begin on a £15m regeneration of the harbour, he explained the steps being taken to mitigate concerns.

He said: “There’s not a lot we can do, because it’s an open quayside. We have gone for a compromise situation whereby the ground floor of our building will be at least 1.2 metres or more above the existing flood level.

“We know the water is going to come over on a frequent basis in the future, but

thing we are putting there will be capable of withstanding it.”

Tidal flooding in Annan has the ability to be very severe if the high tide is met with a large volume of water in the river as well as a storm surge in the Irish Sea.

Alan added: “The rivers are in spate for a shorter time than they used to be, but when they are it is much more severe. The water comes really quickly and fades away really quickly.

“The big thing is the storm surge. Hopefully there might be some mitigation in the future to stop it getting any worse.

“We have spent a lot of time thinking about flooding.”

Town caught by surprise

ANNANDALE East and Eskdale councillor Denis Male has called for a multi-agency meeting following surface water flooding in Langholm on Wednesday night.

Intense heavy rainfall led to water on the hills flowing onto the A7 coming in to the town from the south.

Cllr Male said: “The drains that are in the hills are totally inadequate. There’s got to be a major investigation into this. “I have never seen anything like this at both ends of the town.

“(On Wednesday night) there were local people putting their life at risk cleaning storm drains.”

Speaking yesterday, while the aftermath was being cleaned up, Cllr Male added: “I want to have a meeting before Christmas to discuss this. There just needs to be one more heavy rainfall for it to happen again.

“The drains need to be inspected and improved. “If it had not stopped raining then I dread to think what would’ve happened.”

Responding to the incident, a Dumfries and Galloway Council spokesman said: “The council can confirm that last night’s localised flooding in Langholm was caused by exceptional runoff from surrounding hills, where ground conditions were already saturated following prolonged rainfall.

“Despite recent maintenance work to clear land drains, the sheer volume of water exceeded the capacity of the drainage system.

“This incident did not meet the threshold for declaring a major incident.

“The Local Resilience Partnership has robust procedures to assess such events, and Police Scotland – as the lead response agency – would have declared a major incident if appropriate.

“Council Roads and Flood Risk Management teams are on site today (Thursday), working alongside BEAR Scotland, which is responsible for the A7 trunk road, to clear debris and restore safe access.”